wiring help

[ragman]

I'm VERY new to this fantastic hobby.  I have acquired several engines and various equipment,  I have 1 controller but 2 tracks that I believe are each controlled by knife switches.  How can I wire the 2  knife switches so I can run either one independent of the other or both at the same time.

[Trackbump]

Suggest looking into DCC .Dcc eliminates the wiring of these sort of switches and allows you to independently control all your locomotives ,lights accessories sound by the dcc controller itself. It is the way to go . Most hesitate at first ,but once you have it you will never look back and wish you would had done it long time ago. It has been around a few decades now and is reliable .If not you need to isolate sections of track or loops and add a second transformer to control more then one locomotive . With dcc even with the budget systems you can control 10 with the same controller and no wiring,isolation points or switches.

Adam

[rich1998]

Welcome.
Two power packs will make it a lot easier. Cheap enough on ebay.
To run both layouts of one pack, wire them together with a switch in between to disconnect one layout.

DCC has it's own issues if not aware. Decoder install is probably the main issue. Easy to smoke a decoder if not electronic capable. Minimum of seven wires to install a decoder in a loco, steam or diesel.
Here is info about DCC.. I use the NCE Power Cab.

https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200526469-What-is-DCC

The Bachmann EZ Command is a good starter system some here will explain. You can find that on ebay at a good price. If all you have are two loops, it might be overkill.
By the way, very few can run ten locos at once so do not be concerned by how many it can control. I can only run three at one time. I think the EZ command can run at least three and one DC loco but it will buzz.

Rich